The Speckled Egg
by Breezecat11
Summary: "Okay, I'll wait little one." I murmured as I leaned against the wall to look at the small egg. It was white, with small flecks of gold speckled about it.  On hold until further notice.
1. Chapter 1

**I DO NOT: Own any part of the DRoP series, Anne McCaffery does. **

**I DO: Own the characters who obviously are mine.**

* * *

I took a deep breath as the golden egg in front of me began to shake. I heard squeals of excitement coming from the other girls. I along with a blonde haired girl name Kyra was silent. Waiting in anticipation. The golden egg rocked faster and faster as the dragonet desperately tried to free herself. Another calming breath. Come on Courtney, you can do this. You were chosen. Chosen for _this._ I thought soothingly. I took another deep breath as I went back to the day I was chosen, thinking it might calm me.

"_Go to the herdmaster Courtney," My mother told me, "I hear one of the herdbeasts is supposed to give birth today." I nodded and set out on my way, it was early day and it was a good walk to get to the herds. Once I finally got there I was refreshed and energized, expectant, for some reason that I couldn't figure out. I walked into the stable where it was silent except for the grunts of a heardbeast and the gentle reassurances from the herdmaster._

"_Ah, your here Courtney," The herdmaster said, I came here often as an attempt for my mother to keep me out of the hold. I think she was afraid that I would become one of the Lord Holders many play things. As if, I'm pretty sure if he even asked me I would politely decline, and if he asked me again,or worse, I would punch him, like the herdmaster's apprentice taught me to. "I could use your help, the herdbeast is having a hard birth. Can you go find my apprentice for me? He should be somewhere near." I nodded and walked calmly out of the stables. I set a quick pace and began to check out all of Lio's regular hang out area's. When those turned up nothing I set out towards the main stables. As I entered I heard the sounds of scuffling. Please let Lio not be getting into another fight. I thought, Lio was good natured, but he was quick to through fists if you angered him. _

_I carefully peered around the corner and sure enough there was Lio, rolling on the ground with Renold, the Lord Holders first son, who was around my age. "Hello Lio, Renold," I said politely with a smile, "Sorry to break up this match, but the Herdmaster needs you Lio. The herdbeast that's supposed to birth today is having a hard time, and he needs your help." Lio grumbled something I couldn't make out but stomped out of the stable. I sighed and walked out of the stable and decided to lean against the outside and stare up at the sky. I heard a whooshing noise and tried to distinguish where it was coming from, when I was distracted when I felt someone tug at the back of my dress._

_I turned quickly to see Renold grinning widely at me. "So Courtney, you wanna have some fun?" He asked mischievously. I scowled promptly, I could tell he was going to turn out just like his father. _

"_No Renold I do not 'wanna have some fun' "I quoted his words still scowling, "And if I did it wouldn't be with the likes of you. So I suggest you just go back to the hold, where so many others will have you because I will never have you. Now what is the noise? I keep hearing it." I trailed off and looked back at the sky, there was a fleck there that seemed to be circling lower and lower. "Is that a-UFF!" I said as I was grabbed from behind by Renold._

"_You see, you may not want me. But I do want you, and I can have anything I'd like and-OW!" He exclaimed as I brought my foot up behind me and between his legs. I slipped out of his grasp as he buckled over in pain. I clenched my hand into a fist as I waited to see if he would get up and try again. I jumped as I heard a soft clapping behind me, and noticed that the whooshing noise had disappeared._

"_Very nice, young lady." The man said as he leaned against a large brown dragon, "May I ask how old you are?" _

"_I-I'm eighteen, almost n-nineteen turns old." I stuttered out as I looked up at the large brown. "Is that a dragon?" I asked in awe. _

_'Of course I am a dragon young miss.' A voice said inside my head. _

_"D-did he just talk me?" I stuttered out again. This had to be the best day of my life! I'm looking at a real live dragon! And it spoke to me! The dragoman looked shocked._

"_Well it seems he has." He said quietly. _

_'Yes it seems I have' The dragon chimed in my head, sounding slightly bored. _

_"Well young miss, what is your name?" The brown rider asked as he straightened up._

"_Uh…." Oh, how could I forget my name at a time like this! This was so embarrassing! Oh right I'm Courtney! Clumsy Courtney, Cute Courtney, Can't take no for an answer unless I think that's the right answer Courtney. "I'm Courtney," I said with a sigh of relief._

"_Well as you know we are on the hunt for more riders, and there's been a queen egg laid." He said, I actually didn't know this at all. "And," He continued, "We need to take you with us." _

_I looked shocked, "Me? A dragonlady of pern?" _

_'Yes young one, that is what he's implying at.' The dragon answered._

And that was why I was here. Standing in front of the golden egg. Taking another soothing breath as a beak cracked throw the shell.

* * *

**Thanks to whiteraven for pointing out some errors that I made, hopefully I can edit Chapter Two a little bit better.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I DO NOT: Own anything to do with the DRoP series**

**I DO: Own the characters who are obviously mine**

* * *

Chapter two: The Egg

I ran a hand through my brown hair as I stared at the growing whole. The calls of the golden dragonet growing in increasing frequency as it began to crawl out of the egg. It screamed in fury as I was the first one it saw. Confusion swirling in her multifaceted eyes as she lunged for me. I ducked out of the way and scrambled out of the way. Thinking it best to go to a quiet corner and wait out the impressing I navigated my way carefully to the back, where I only saw one small egg. I huffed and sat down next to the egg, "Guess we're together little one." I murmured as I stroked the egg softly.

I jumped a little as a response came to me from inside the egg. _Mine, I'm not ready to hatch yet_ the response came, _You will have to wait_.

"How long?" I asked.

_I do not know mine. But you will have to wait!_

"Okay, I'll wait little one." I murmured as I leaned against the wall to look at the small egg. It was white, with small flecks of gold speckled about it. I jolted awake some time later, not realizing that I had begun to lightly doze.

"Ah, Glad to see that your awake." The woman in front of me said with a relieved sigh, "All the other candidates just left. Whether they have impressed or not." She looked down at me and then to the egg I still sat beside, "It happens every now and again that an egg doesn't hatch. There's no use staying, It's just going to rot."

"I'm sorry ma'am I can't." I stated as I stroked the egg, "The one inside told me that I couldn't, that I had to wait." I smiled softly down at the egg. The woman sighed and ran a hand through her black hair.

"I see," She murmured, "I will get you some Klah and food if you would like."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "That would be nice. I'm Courtney by the way."

"Rayne," She murmured, "I'm one of the two, well now three, weyrwomen." I nodded, that would make sense. "This is my gold Renegath's second clutch." She nodded in the direction of a large golden dragon, staring on at us as we talked. In a few moments a drudge brought in a steaming cup of klah and some food. I murmured my thanks as I lightly began to sip at the klah. "Well, I'd better be off, the feast will start soon. I'll arrange for food to be brought to you here." Rayne said as she stood up, "It was nice meeting you Courtney." I nodded in agreement as I leaned back against the wall, realizing how late it had gotten.

I jolted awake the next morning by a drudge bringing in a plate and cup. I shifted against the wall and pulled myself up into a standing position as I picked up the cup. I lightly paced a short length by the speckled egg to stretch my legs, making sure not to wonder to far away. After nursing the cup for a few minutes I set it down and began to eat, that was until I heard I shuffle as someone entered.

"Oh," The black haired young man, who I would say was a year or two older than me, said as he looked at me with startled hazel eyes, "I didn't think anyone was in here."

"It's fine," I said with a roll of my eyes as I set my now empty plate down and leaned against the wall, bending slightly so I could stroke my egg. I saw his eyes trail down the length of my body, causing me to blush slightly, and then down to the egg.

"Why are you staying?" The young man asked, slightly confused, "It's not going to-" He was cut off as I saw Rayne come to a stop in the doorway.

"There you are R'yon! I've been looking everywhere for you, The weyrlings are gathering outside. R'age is showing them how to oil the dragonets! You have to get going, your father wants your help."

_Yes R'yon and I could use some more oiling. You missed a patch at the base of my tail._ The voice that I assumed was his dragon's. _Yes, my rider is R'yon. I am the bronze Beanonth._ He answered my thoughts.

"Who are you talking to Beanonth?" R'yon asked as he looked from me to the egg and then up to the sky.

_Why, the young miss in there. We dragons like her, we like her very much._ R'yon looked at me confused. _She can bespeak us if, she often does it without realizing it. _I didn't realize that I did it without realizing it. _Take this instant, She just thought that she didn't realize that she bespoke us without realizing it._ I laughed quietly, but was cut off as my egg began to rock furiously. A tiny crack appeared and a dark beak poked out. The dragonet hummed as she made a larger hole in the egg. Soon my little dragonet crawled out of the egg with a quiet squawk as she shook off her wings and looked up at me. Her eyes whirled with happiness.

_It is nice to finally meet you_ She said to me _My name is Daihanath and you are mine!_

* * *

**~So this is the second chapter, and i'm thinking about maybe getting one of my friends to also edit these before I post them onto here. Two eyes seem like they would be better than one. Also school's about to be starting up again so that'll mean less time for writing and such, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with everything easily and still be able to at least post twice a month, maybe more? It all depends on how things play out. Reviews are always welcome, as is constructive critisim sense this is my first fanfic and I think it would help improve my writing~**


	3. Chapter 3

**I DO NOT: Own any of the DRoP series**

**I DO: Own the characters who are obviously mine**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 3: Different Kinds of Pain

I awoke and scrambled up in the bed in the room that Rayne had told me was mine as I felt a pressure on my legs and looked down to see Daihanath sitting on them staring up at me. She was smaller than the other dragonets but was growing steadily heavier. It had been about two months sense she hatched and I had a lot to do during that time. _I am hungry Courtney. Can we go get food now?_ She asked me.

"Yes Dai, we can go get food now." I said with a small sigh as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

_Thank you._ She said, Daihanath usually scolded me for calling her Dai, but she was ignoring it today, instead deciding that her growling stomach was more important, and jumped off of the bed. At first her leathery hide had appeared to be black, but after it had dried I had been able to see that it was a dark gold. _Come on! I'm hungry!_ Daihanath said as she tugged me off of the bed.

I quickly dressed in trousers and a blouse before following her. The other female riders liked to wear dresses unless they were tending to their dragons, I although preferred to wear them all of the time. "I'm hurrying Daihanath! Just be patient." I huffed as I quickly ran a hand through my hair, "Would you mind if I bathed first?" I asked.

_Food then bath!_ Daihanath exclaimed.

"Alright," I said with a sigh and slight smile as I walked out of the door and then led Dai to the hunting field. Once we got there I perched onto a rock and watched as Daihanath hunted, making sure she didn't eat to much.

"So why haven't you worn a dress sense you impressed?" A voice behind me asked, I looked around and saw R'yon with Beanonth following him. I huffed and stood up as Daihanath took down a herdbeast. This was her first catch today and I decided that I would allow her to have one more this morning. I turned and looked at R'yon as Daihanath finished her kill and began to stalk another one. I saw Beanonth go to join her in her hunt. "So, are you going to answer me Courtney?" R'yon asked again with a sigh as he leaned against a rock a few yards away.

"Why I don't wear dresses," I said as I began to walk over, "Is because I tend to -AH!" I exclaimed as I tripped and fell into him. He chuckled slightly and steadied me. "As I was saying, I tend to trip over nothing even when I'm not wearing a dress." I said as I blushed slightly and looked over at Daihanath and Beanonth who had successfully taken down three more heardbeasts. "Dai your only aloud one more!" I told her firmly as she began to dig in to one.

_It's Daihanath_ She muttered in my mind, but I could tell that she would only eat one. She began to eat again, slower than the first time. I looked up at the sky from where I now leaned on the rock beside R'yon.

"Hey R'yon," I heard a feminine voice purr from the other side of R'yon. I peered lightly over R'yon to see Kyra smiling at him from the other side of the rock. I jumped as I heard Daihanath squawk and looked over to see a fairly large golden dragonet pushing Dai lightly away from her kill, although not eating it. Daihanath flapped her wings slightly and slunk back kover to her kill, only to be nudged away.

_The kill was mine _I heard her say to the gold who's response was to growl slightly.

"Kyra, control Lilionth." R'yon said calmly, "Daihanath had the kill first, and should be aloud to eat it."

"The little squirt should just do what Lilionth wants." Kyra retorted, "After all she is the future queen, and should be treated as such." I curled my hands into fists as she went on. "Where is the pip squeaks rider anyway? I bet she-" Kyra was cut off by R'yon coughing loudly, bending over so that Kyra could see me glaring at her.

"You bet she what?" I growled at her. I hadn't really looked at her before the impressing but now that I could I saw that she was stunning. She had soft, beautiful blue eyes and long blonde hair that was flowing down her back. The long white shirt that she wore brought out the wonderful cream her skin tone, and the dark trousers brought out honey tones in her hair. I could feel my self esteem lower a few notches. I definitely didn't have a chance with R'yon if she had set her sites on him.

_Courtney? What is wrong? I don't recognize the emotion you're feeling._ Daihanath whimpered slightly she slunk over to me carefully. _You mad… but there's something else, a type of pain, that I can't figure out…_

_It's despair, and slight bit of rejection, Daihanath._ Beanonth told her along with me after he realized that I was having a hard time placing the feeling as well. _Courtney feels that she no longer has even the slightest chance with R'yon. She was feeling that she had a shot before, but lost it as soon as Courtney saw the other rider._ I sighed and unclenched my fists. He was right, that was the feeling.

"You okay?" R'yon asked me as he noted me unclenching me hands.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine." I said trying to sound as normal as I could.

_No your not, you are sad. _Daihanath's voice ringed in my mind_._

"Daihanath," I said with a sigh, "It's okay, don't worry about it." Daihanath turned and looked at Kyra, red filling her eyes that I knew meant she was mad.**

* * *

**** ~ I fixed a lot of things in this chapter, hopefully it sounds better? I fixed all of the spelling mistakes that I could find, if you see any that I didn't get I would appreciate if you told me. Thanks to all of those who reviewed this chapter and the previous chapter, this is a learning expierience for me, and I have learned a lot****. I'm currently on the hunt for another DRoP book as I've only read _Dragonflight, Dragonquest, _and _The White Dragon._ And sense my sister's actually the one who bought them I'd figure it's best to let her finnish reading them before I reread them. I'm probably going to sort of rewrite the chapters I've already writen after I reread the three books I have..As always, reviews are welcome and thanks to all of those who reviewed the previous chapters and the first version of this chapter. ~**


	4. Chapter 4

**I DO NOT: Own any part of the DRoP series**

**I DO: Own what is obviously mine**

**

* * *

Chapter 4: Flying**

It had been a little over a turn sense I had impressed Daihanath and they had finally decided to let me begin practicing with the queens wing. I hadn't even flown on Daihanath yet, but she seemed to be eager to carry me astride her back. _Come on Courtney! I do not want to be late, this is a very important day!_ Dai exclaimed as she paced in our room. I finished brushing out my hair from the bath I had just taken and turned to look at her.

"Be patient Daihanath, we still have an hour or so left before we even have to be anywhere." I said with a laugh.

_I am also hungry, _She grumbled, _I do not want to fly on an empty stomach._

"I know." I said again and lightly scratched her eye ridge. She was now slightly larger than the greens her age, but she was still smaller than some of the blues, and as they were starting to teach the green weyrlings how to fly it had been decided that we would also be taught. "I'll let you eat before we get there okay?"

_That sounds good. Do you think Lilionth will be there?_ Daihanath asked as she tilted her head towards me so I could get a different place she wanted scratched.

I stroked her dark gold hide soothingly and she hummed happily and leaned against my hand. "We'll be fine Dai, even if Kyra and Lilionth are there." I said calmly.

_Daihanath_ She corrected even though she didn't really care that much anymore.

"Now come on Daihanath, let's start are way over there. I'll let you catch a wherry on the way over there." Daihanath's eyes whirled with happiness as we made our way down. One wherry and about fifty minutes later we sat in the field where Rayne had told me to go. I had found out that Rayne was the senior Weyrwomen. The other weyrwomen was Nita who rode on her gold Canath, and of course there was Kyra with Lilionth. Daihanath and I both disliked Kyra, Dai even refused to call her by her name. Lilionth was okay when she wasn't around Kyra, or so Daihanath told me.

_Yes, so I've told you_. Daihanath said as she sat down. I leaned against her leg and waited for the others.

"Looks like the runts arrived," I heard Kyra sneer quietly as she, Rayne, and Nita arrived. Rayne shot a look at Kyra as she dismounted Renegath. Renegath curled her wings against her body and preceded to lay down in the grass. Lilionth knelt down and Kyra gracefully slid off and gave me look that I'd received many times before from the other hold girls when I had done something they didn't like, or had the attention of someone they had wanted. Her blue eyes had turned pale with an icy determination. It slightly unnerved me, and I wondered if I could make my hazel eyes do that.

_I like your eyes mine._ Daihanath said, _Her eyes are always cold. Yours are warm and friendly, don't try to change them.._ I laughed slightly.

"I'm assuming you haven't flown on Daihanath yet?" Rayne said as she walked over to where I now stood with Dai. I shook my head. "Well then I guess we'd better get you started on the basics." She took a pair of fighting straps off of Renegath and showed me how to put them on Daihanath. Then she showed me how to mount Dai so that we were both comfortable. "Daihanath knows what to do now."

_Yes, I do._ Daihanath thought smugly as she unfurled her wings and walked over to a large hill. She took a running start and jumped off of the hill, extending her wings to there full extent and swooped up into the air. I blinked in surprise at how fast we were gaining altitude. _Don't worry mine, if you fall I will catch you. But you don't have to worry because I won't let you fall. _

"Thanks Daihanath." I said with a relieved sigh as I began to intense and looked down at the ground. Everything seemed so small from up here. I saw a bronze dragon swooping down to join the other gold's on the ground. "Who's that Dai?" I asked.

_Beanonth and R'yon_ She answered me happily as she began to spiral down. She was getting ready to land when Lilionth lunged for the place she was going to land. Daihanath bugled in surprise and jerked upwards, wrenching her wing slightly before landing as far away from Lilionth as she possibly could. I quickly slid off of her and looked at her wrenched wing and began to massage it lightly. _Lilionth apologizes_ she said to me, _She wasn't paying attention and didn't know that was where I was going to land when she was told to move there._ Once she was feeling a bit better I turned around to look angrily at Kyra who's attention was focused on R'yon with an innocent smile on her face.

"You know Courtney," She said sweetly, "You should really be more careful with your little dragon. She could get hurt if she accidentally landed on Lilionth. And she could probably hurt Lilionth." Kyra turned her attention back to R'yon. "Don't you think so, R'yon?" I snorted quietly and turned back to Dai.

"Rayne? Can you come over and help me make sure Daihanath's okay. She wrenched her wing a bit when Lilionth…well you know." I finished in a mutter as I began to massage the muscle again. Daihanath hummed happily as the muscle began to feel normal again. Rayne looked over the wing and nodded that it seemed fine now. "So R'yon? Why are you here?" I asked as I leaned against Dai's front leg. He was grinning at something Kyra had whispered into his ear when my words brought him out of his haze.

"Oh right." R'yon said with a grimace as he remembered the reason he had come to the field in the first place. "There have been reports of black dust, and as winter is just beginning I can say that we think thread is going to be present come spring."

Daihanath looked over at Beanonth. _Does this mean we will need to speed up our training?_ She asked him.

_Yes, _Beanonth answered calmly to us both, _You and Courtney will need to speed up your training._

* * *

**~ I've now read Moreta:Dragonlady of Pern, Dragonsong, and Dragonsinger. Hopefully I can now update more since I haven't updated very often. Again if you see spelling mistakes, tell me because reviews are always apreciated.~**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not: Own any of the DRoP series**

**I do: Own the characters who are rightfully mine**

* * *

Chapter 5 It's Only Grass

I sighed as I watched Daihanath on the hunting grounds, it was early in the morning and I had woken up for no reason. Turing my gaze away from her beautiful dark gold form I looked up at the sky, my sight roamed from the puffy white clouds, which provided the occasional shaded spot, to the green watch dragon. _Kath is the green on duty today_ Daihanath told me as she lightly glided over to where I was. I smiled as I scratched her eye ridge. _It is time for our lessons now_ Dai said as I stopped scratching, _Renegath says that Rayne is joining the lesson today. She also says we shouldn't be late. _

"Off we go then Dai," I said with a smile as I stood up. I always found the daily teaching interesting, and since Rayne was going to be there I was almost positive that we would be working with flame throwers today. I watched as Daihanath took off before beginning on my way. I reached the field where we usually had the teaching from L'nar, the brown rider who had found me on his search, when I heard a loud bugle and saw a shining gold figure take off.

_Canath rises_ Dai told me as she landed beside me. I was about to ask who were the five bronzes flying after her before she answered the unspoken question. _Beanonth, Ranth, Luth, Irth, and Horth are attempting to fly her._ I looked up at the sky as I watched the dragons and tried to control the emotions I could feel, knowing that I would be getting a commentary from Daihanath on what I couldn't see. _Horth has dropped out._ She said as the bronze near the back dropped out of the group. _It is now between Beanonth and Ranth_ She said as two more bronzes dropped out. I nervously stood up as I tried to see three as they flew straight overhead. I saw Canath swoop down underneath them both before shooting straight up between them. _Beanonth almost has her, _I heard as I saw one of the bronzes try for Canath and miss by a short length.

"So it's Ranth who has her now?" I asked as the other bronze caught Canath. Daihanath nodded as she settled down into the grass. I sighed as I tried to dissipate the feelings still being given off by the pair. I was still unfocused as I heard a quiet cough from behind me and turned around. "Oh, hello T'ray, Kyra." I murmered as I turned around and saw the lofty brown rider next to Kyra. "Are you joining us today?"

"It would seem so," T'ray said good-naturedly, "R'yon was supposed to be helping Rayne and L'nar, but he's a bit….well you know at the moment." I laughed quietly before nodding that I knew what he meant, I actually liked T'ray. He usually had a sunny disposition and a smile for everyone who needed one. "Any clue what you're being taught today?" He laughed when I shook my head, "That's what I thought, Rayne and L'nar can be very secretive when they want to."

"What's this about me being secretive?" The gruff voice L'nar came from behind us, it was followed with a quiet whoosh as Tionth landed. L'nar quickly undid a sack that was attached to his dragon and took out a few silver canisters. Daihanath hummed happily as she spotted a glint of silver.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked, my hazel eyes widening as he handed me a canister. There was a laugh from behind me and I flipped around and saw Rayne leaning against Renegath.

"Yes, we'll be learning about flame throwers today. T'ray is here to help provide out 'thread' once we get to know how to hold them." Rayne took a flame thrower and I corrected the way I was holding mine. After learning all of the parts on the flame thrower, how they worked, testing them out, and then flying with them I figured out what Rayne meant when she said 'thread.' Rayne laughed at the wide eyed look on my face after she explained the exercise we would be doing. "Relax Courtney, it's just a grass rope we won't actually be using working flame throwers. Plus the grass will be falling slower than thread would, this will just be to get you accustom to moving the flame thrower."

_Yes, we will be fine._ Daihanath assured me as I thought about the exercise. Kyra and I would be flying with our dragon and L'nar, T'ray, and Rayne would drop the grass ropes at random points in time, going between occasionally which L'nar still hadn't taught us yet, we were supposed to bring the canister up and point it at the rope. If one of them told us we were good then the rope was dead, if not we had to get ourselves and our dragons out of the way as fast as we could without getting hit. _I will not drop you when if we have to spin. _

I sighed before nodding slightly. "Good good, now mount and fly." Rayne said before mounting Renegath. I rechecked the fighting straps I had put on Daihanath before mounting for myself, and noticing that Dai had to bend down further than usual in order to get me on her, that was good, it meant she was growing again. I still doubted somewhat that she would ever be as large as the other gold dragons, but I did think that if she grew enough she could at least be as large as a bronze.

I took a breath as we lifted up into the air and I heard Rayne yell out start so Kyra and I could both hear. I quickly gazed upwards, putting both hands on my flamethrower and held onto Daihanath with my legs, and bent over slightly to help keep myself balanced. I spotted Kyra moving her flamethrower frantically as she tried to point at all of the grass ropes that were falling on her. I was so focused on her that I gave a squeak as Dai unexpectedly plummeted downwards. _It would be nice if you paid attention_ Daihanath told me as I saw the rope that narrowly missed her wing and looked upwards. My eyes widened as I saw ropes coming down quickly, I briefly wondered how high up they had dropped them from before moving my thrower quickly and making most of them dead. I had heard Rayne call out good thirteen times for the seventeen ropes I had counted, but by then they were to close to do anything about. I closed my eyes as Dai spun out of the way and watched them plummet to the ground, one grazing her right wingtip.

"Out!" I heard Rayne yell and Daihanath and I spiraled towards the ground where Lilionth and Kyra already sat. I landed and shakily dismounted, not because I was afraid but because of the adrenaline that was going through my veins. "I think that was pretty good for the first time with the flamethrowers." Rayne said as she landed, "I think that should be all for today."

* * *

**_~Well it's been a while since I've actually looked at this because of random stuff going on. I'm not all sure about whether the contents of the chapter are what riders would do in a turn with no thread. I've read Dragondrums and that's all that our library has, so I'll be seeing about actually buying more books. I didn't spend a lot of time editing this and so there will probably be mistakes, like me not knowing if it was supposed to be flamethrower or flame thrower and not having any of the books on hand. Anyways reviews are appreciated as always.~_**


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not any of the DRoP series, I do own my own characters**

**

* * *

****Chapter Six, First Fight**

I woke up with a start as I realized that I was falling out of my bed and was about to hit the floor. I stuck my arms out and caught myself before I hit the ground. I looked up to see Daihanath looking at me, amusement swirling in her eyes. _Glad to see you're awake,_ She said as she reached her neck out and nosed me to my feet. A month had passed since we had our first thread training session and Dai had grown again. I had happily noted the other day that when she stood next to Yanth, one of the blues that was almost the size of a small brown, she was a tiny bit taller than him. _Thread will fall today, the sky's warm. _I jolted over to where my clothes were as she said that and pulled my fighting clothes on.

I raced out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen, hoping to find Rayne. I was rewarded by seeing Rayne turn to walk in the same direction as I was, braiding her long black hair down her back. "Thread today?" I asked, wanting to see if Daihanath had been right. Rayne nodded as we made our way into the kitchen. I grabbed a bowl of soup as it was set in front of me and made my way out of the kitchen.

"Courtney, I want you to stay here today. We need someone here who'll know at least a little bit about how to heal a dragon," Rayne said as she followed me out, as I opened my mouth to say I didn't know about how to heal dragons she cut me off, "I know you don't know about how to heal dragon injuries, torn wings and such, but you know a little about beast injuries and how to fix them. After all you did spend a lot of your time, as I understand it, in the heardmaster's stable back in your hold. We have others who come from runner backgrounds in the lower caverns and they will help." I nodded my acknowledgement. "Good, once we finish eating we'll need to start brewing some numbweed."

After brewing a few pots of numbweed Rayne left along with Nita and Kyra to go to Ista hold and wait for the thread. I sighed, wiping my stinging eyes and went to go change. _We will be there next time,_ Daihanath's voice rang in my mind, sounding wishful, as I pulled of my fighting clothes and yanked on a pair of clothes that fit loosely. I contemplated as where Dai was when she sent me a picture of her lounging by the lake, staring up at the sky where the queens had disappeared, sending a longing feeling to me.

"I know Dai, I know," I murmured as I made my way back to the kitchen and began another pot. I stopped only when Daihanath told me that Kath was coming back, S'tel, her rider, had badly scored his right forearm. I turned to my left and grabbed a pot of numbweed before making my way out to the field to see a green carefully spiraling downwards. "Come on S'tel, let me see your arm," I demanded as he slid off of Kath, who was keening anxiously. S'tel grimaced and held out his arm gingerly. I looked at it, carefully turning it to the left and right before getting to work. Once I was finished I made my way back up to the kitchen.

I was grateful when the fall was over and we only had three major injuries. I yawned as I made my way into my room, scratching Daihanath's eye ridge. _We will fly in the next fall_, She stated before tilting her head to move where I was scratching. I nodded having shown a few people how to heal a dragon wing with the one dragon injury we'd had today I felt that people would know how to handle it in the next fall. _It feels better now,_ Dai said, nodding me off in the direction of my bed. _You should sleep now. _I nodded my agreement before crawling into the bed. Within seconds I had drifted off into sleep.

_

* * *

_**~ I've been trying to avoid Courtney turning into a Mary Sue, I don't really know how well I've suceeded though. Sorry if this chapter seems a bit slow and short, I started writing the chapter after this before realizing I'd never covered the first thread fall. I'm pretty sure that I'll brush up on the books before posting the next chapter to make sure everything's correct. Anyway, if you spot any errors point them out to me and reviews are always welcome. ~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclamer: I do not own any part of the DRoP series**

**There's going to be quite an Author's Note at the end, that might contain information that interests those reading the story, but without further ado, I give you wonderful perople, Chapter Seven of _The Speckled_****_ Egg._**

* * *

Chapter Seven

Change

I jolted awake abruptly, trying to escape the scolding words from my dream. It was always the same memory replaying, the shouted, "Slather, slater, slather! I can't-" Then the rest of L'nar's words would be cut out by a dragon screaming. I took a deep breath to calm my shaking, then glanced over at Daihanath. I frowned lightly as I realized she had fallen asleep sunning herself right before I had decided to take my brief nap.

_She's been doing that a lot lately_, I grimace lightly at the thought, but also feel a slight sense of relief at her being asleep. I usually hated it when she slept due to the lack of reassurance and calm that her presence usually brought me. Recently I had been learning to enjoy my alone time, seeing as how whenever she was awake now, she was easily irritated, which in turn made me short-tempered.

I let my thoughts trail away as I began to get ready for the day. Renegath had another gold egg hardening on the sands, which was causing discomfort and unhappiness to infiltrate the rest of the queens. Once this one hatched there would be six queens in the weyr, when Renegath barely tolerated five.

I contemplated the discussion about what the solution to the problem would be as I quickly brushed through my chin length hair. The mutual agreement had been that we should transfer the egg, but the question now was where it would go. Both High Reaches Weyr and Beneden were short on queens at the moment, although High Reaches seemed to be the more favorable seeing as they only had one queen who was slightly aging without producing another Queen egg. Slightly lost in thought I began to travel towards the kitchens, Rayne had traveled to High Reaches to discuss the matter with them yesterday, and was due back today.

I jolted from my thoughts as a frustrated voice sounded in my head. _Where are you?_ Daihanath demanded of me, _I have been awake now for quote some time, and you've been staring into the corner for most of it. Don't you have more important things to do? You do have a meeting to attend once Rayne arrives back in the Weyr._ I rubbed my arm in annoyment at the fact that Dai was right, I had stopped in a corner and turned back around.

_I was going to get food,_ I responded as I started back towards our room, _However, I think I've lost my appetite. I'm coming back now. _

_Check your riding gear. I think you might have a hole in something._ Daihanath calmly stated as she reclined back into the sun while I entered the room. I bit the inside of my cheek as I pulled out jacket, resisting the urge to respond and turning my mind to menial things while I searched the clothing. When I was almost finished inspecting the sleeves Dai interrupted my work. _Renegath is back. Rayne wants you and the others to meet where you met before. _

"Thank you Daihanath." I reached over and lightly stroked her side, before dropping the jacket onto the bed for further inspection once I returned, setting off to the abandoned room where I had been meeting with the other weyrwomen recently. I hummed lightly to calm and distract myself from Daihanath's agitation as a cloud blocked the sun.

I slid into the remaining seat and ceased humming when I arrived, clasping my hands in front of me before placing my attention on Rayne. She coughed lightly before speaking, "I've talked to both Zyza of Benden, and Tilly of High Reaches. Zyza informed me that they have a queen egg already warming on their sands now, and we both came to an agreement that it would be in the best interest not to have two queens of a very close age in the same weyr." I felt her gaze slide over Kyra and I, "For the very obvious reason of mating flights." I crossed my ankles as other eyes trailed over Kyra and I, resisting the urge to lower my hazel gaze. "Seeing as we are already at a very precariously balanced amount of queens at the moment, we will be transferring another one of our queens with the egg." Her eyes trained on me, and my stomach knotted in on itself, before I gave her a slight nod. Rayne smiled briefly before continuing, "Courtney shall be going along with a few other of our riders, and a few High Reaches riders will be coming here."

I zoned out for the rest of the meeting, before standing as soon as we were dismissed, turning on my heel and walking from the room.

* * *

**Wow, so, it's been a really long time since I've updated this. I think it's going on one or two years since my last update? I'm really sorry guys. And it's actually past midnight where I live right now where I'm updating. I feel really guilty, but as of now, this story is being put on hold. I will most likely pick it up again sometime, but there's no guarantee that it will be anytime soon. Things got really busy for me last year, I made a play and a musical at my school, which for the people who know me it's pretty big that I even auditioned for them because I'm the type of person that gets jittery if they even have to answer a question in class. I also tried to juggle Field Hockey and the Musical at the same time, which resulted in me getting little sleep seeing as I still had four honors and one AP class to do homework for. I'm surpised that I survived. I barely had time to write, and when I did, I did _not_ what to write anything remotely serious. Which resulted in me start writing a different Fanfiction that I won't be uploading onto here until it's actually done. But it's not at all DRoP related, actually, it's Hetalia, which might garner some people's irritation because I know that the fandom isn't really known for it's...sanity? I have no clue what I mean by that, but, well, yeah. It's highly likely that this is getting a bit rambly, so I'll try and keep it short...well...shorter...I've actually been holding onto this chapter for almost since the last time I updated, and my friend so graciously told me, "Y'know, people might be hating you know for not updating." And that sort of spurred me on to update. I started this during my Freshman year I believe, and that's also when I think I last updated it, And I figured that maybe I should upload before I start my Junior year when things are sure to be more hectic, although the college I've been thinking about probably doesn't need me to be spazzing over my grades like I do, I probably won't have much time to do anything seeing as I will now be doing two AP courses and three possibly four honors courses. I've been learning quite a lot about myself lately, and while I still enjoy DRoP, there's a lot more things that I'm interested in now, like sculpting. I'm actually a pretty good sculptor and a painter and art in general, which I thought I totally sucked at before, just like how I thought I totally sucked at acting, but after the last show, someone who graduated came up and told me that they'd be coming to shows next year and I had better be in them because I have talent. My afore mentioned friend has also been helping me create characters for an original thing that's we've been doing. And this has already grown in nearly twice the length I apologize! Sorry for any mistakes made in this chapter, I didn't do any editing at all, so I know for sure that there will be spelling mistakes, probably very stupid spelling mistakes at that. Reviews are, as always, appreciated, because I do read them, thank you~**


End file.
